A Foolish Consistency

Growing up, we learn how to behave in a way that makes us a cog fit for society’s machine. Parts of official and folk religion may become counterproductive if we keep them, while valuing rationality to the extent that we really begin to overcome hypocrisy and inconsistency. Those parts would never have allowed our society to prosper if not for their protective companion conventional irrationalities.

If you fix one bug in an incorrect computation while others remain, your answer may be more inaccurate than before. So, if you’re both courageous and rational, please be careful before acting in a way that harms society; maybe the irrationality you just removed was part of your society’s protection against the logical consequences of another error you also need to discard. For example, please consider abandoning your religion before committing acts of righteous terrorism.